Possessed of the unaffected amiability of a man who has lived all of his 59 years in the shadows of the Blue Ridge, Sen. Emmett Hanger wears a country politician’s easy smile as he muses over the turn of some corners of his political world against him.

As lapses of lucidity go, the one on display Thursday night in the Augusta County Government Center was substantially more intriguing than most. Undaunted by democratic spirit in the lower-case sense and the sentiments of 141 party souls who voted against him, county Republican Committee Chairman Kurt Michael appeared to play with stunning clarity the part of vanquished lover stubbornly refusing to accept his beau’s desire to part ways.

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:

Those sporting souls venturing into the South River next weekend for the city’s annual fly fishing tournament will not be alone in the cool, murky water, and that has nothing whatever to do with trout. Swimming in the signature waterway that flows - or maybe trudges would be the more apropos term - along Waynesboro’s eastern border are masses of bacteria, including the ever popular and resilient E. coli.

Huddled with reporters aboard Air Force One after having taken another lump in seven years layered with them, President Bush sought by sleight of speech to turn reality on its head, an awkward enterprise under any circumstances, but one particularly so for the man they call Dubya, given his linguistic encumberances and flawed record in attempting the same on the subject of Iraq.

With the election now in plain view and the chasm between them still widening, the City Council’s feuding factions are preparing to begin work on next fiscal year’s budget amid acutely challenging economic circumstances. Among the primary considerations are what to do about stormwater and whether to cut spending or increase taxes to balance the budget.

The candidacy of Northern Virginia conservative Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, for attorney general along with those of Robert McDonnell for governor and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling for the top two spots on the state ticket appear to indicate a building resurgence within the beleaguered state GOP.

The candidacy of Northern Virginia conservative Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, for attorney general along with those of Robert McDonnell for governor and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling for the top two spots on the state ticket appear to indicate a building resurgence within the beleaguered state GOP.

Augusta County supervisors, amid their wrangling over a $172.5 million budget, have decided to bid adieu to the agricultural development director they hired just two years ago. They reasoned that Miles Bobbitt’s job description substantively rendered the job itself superfluous. He was to have administered a purchase of development rights program that supervisors have decided - and then reaffirmed - need not exist.

Spring may be upon us, but the chill inside council chambers has plummeted to a record low in the wake of the still-unresolved flap over whether to televise a candidates forum on the city government access channel.

State lawmakers hedged on a threat to withdraw from the No Child Left Behind program - and turn down $300 million in federal money, to boot - but their reasonable objections to the law have been heard nonetheless.

State lawmakers hedged on a threat to withdraw from the No Child Left Behind program - and turn down $300 million in federal money, to boot - but their reasonable objections to the law have been heard nonetheless.

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:

If the ability of presidential candidates to recover from roundhouse blows delivered with precision to their own chins from their own hands is an appropriate measure of their fitness for the job, Barack Obama might just as well move into the White House now.

Concealed beneath the clamor over the state budget and bills covering such issues as gun rights, mental health and puppy farms were bids targeting the commonwealth’s right-to-work law.

Unrest continues to swirl in the Augusta County Republican Party after being stirred last year by Scott Sayre’s failed primary attempt to unseat state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon.

On the front page of today’s newspaper, in this space and in a guest editorial by Waynesboro businessman and Wayne Theatre Alliance Chairman Bill Hausrath, baseball is again the topic of the day.

I have read with interest the articles about building a professional baseball stadium in Waynesboro.

John Grisham, the trial lawyer turned best-selling novelist who lives near Charlottesville, has linked arms with billionaire George Soros in calling for an end to judicial elections, popular and politicized in almost two-thirds of the 50 states. Such is not the case here, where state lawmakers elect judges, a better but not ideal alternative in Grisham’s view.

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:

As local public school teachers await word on whether city officials will approve another round of seniority-based raises, here is an intriguing and growingly open secret about teachers unions: they increasingly are the object of disdain among some of their rank and file.

Miffed by our editorial last week backing state Del. Ben Cline’s push to halve what he described as a $26 million advertising budget, a Virginia Lottery official fired off a missive that we published Sunday disputing the figure. Lottery officials say the advertising budget is $20 million, not $26 million.

Since January 2007, Virginia has enticed large companies to expand or relocate here with more than $20 million in tax incentives, ranging from tax breaks to cash grants to job training, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That has resulted in the creation of almost 3,000 jobs.

Today marks the start of an annual journalistic rite: newspapers’ championing open government under the banner of Sunshine Week, which starts today and runs through Saturday.

Amid the rubble of another political career felled by scandal are lessons some people are loath to learn.

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond.

They ran through the Southern Valley District, they pulled off the biggest upset of the year in the Region III tournament on a last-second shot. They’ve done everything they can to turn around a moribund girls basketball program. And, by golly, they sure did.

Letters to the editor